Painters band together

JOEL DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - Every artistic endeavor begins with a moment of inspiration. Last summer, Valley residents Judith Sharpe-Levy and Ilene Paulsen visited the Kachemak Bay Watercolor Society. There in Homer, they saw a community of artists inspiring one another, painting together and working side by side on a variety of projects.

It was exactly the kind of scene they wanted to see flourish in the Valley. On Monday night, their goal took a few steps forward as 22 painters of all ages, backgrounds and capabilities gathered in an upstairs art room at Mat-Su College to sharpen the vision for an artistic community.

With nearly two dozen creative types sitting in a circle, ideas were plentiful. By the end of the brainstorming session, several rough ideas had taken hold.

It was important to some people, including Sharpe-Levy, that the group be a private organization, separate from the college. For the time being, however, they decided meeting at the college was the best option.

"I'm teaching life drawing at the college," Sharpe-Levy said. "I'm a part of the university system, but this is not going to be a college class."

Ultimately, Sharpe-Levy would like to see the group acquire an old building and renovate it into a studio/art gallery, which is what she did several years ago, while living in Texas.

"I had an art gallery there," she said. "It got started with a few people getting together to paint and then we got a building and it just grew."

The goal for the Mat-Su group is to hold weekly meetings, where artists can paint together in the same room. On Monday, they talked of going on painting field trips and perhaps holding art shows for the larger community.

"The Valley needs its own art league," Sharpe-Levy said. "You have a lot of stuff in Anchorage but it's hard to get there. I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel. There's been groups before, but maybe not organized groups."

While the group has no official name yet, they currently call themselves Mat-Su Valley Art Association and are open to artists of all media. Painters who work with watercolor, acrylic or oils are welcome to participate.

"Let's be eclectic and learn from each other," one woman told her fellow painters as they brainstormed their identity.

Later, when they are more established, the painters want to host art showings and presentations. One person mentioned establishing a Web site.

"We should be able to do this," Paulsen said. "We really want to do community things. I don't see why we couldn't go paint a mural for the community and give back."

Other ideas included offering scholarships, down the road, for high school and college students who want to pursue the arts.

Bernd Richter came out for the meeting with the goal of learning how to paint with watercolors.

"I just started painting two months ago," he said. "I wanted a place to meet other painters and learn from them."

Learning and drawing off one another is just the sort of thing Sharpe-Levy said an artistic community should provide.

"Artists need to hang out together," she said. "They get ideas and energy from each other. The impressionists worked together. Van Gogh worked off Gauguin."

By the end of the meeting, the painters established that they would meet again, in room 212 on the second floor of the college's main building. The meeting is set for Feb. 21 from 6-9 p.m. Those interested in finding out more about the group may call Sharpe-Levy at 746-7718 or Paulsen at 745-5429.

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.